Calling on all Southern California Windsurfers! Join us on July 14, 2007 in San Pedro, California for the Cabrillo Beach Windsurf Enduro. We've got great sponsors, trophies, prizes, bbq, live band, fun for everyone. No prior racing experience is required. Check out the www.cabrillobeachbathhouse.org website for more information, including the notice of race, and registration.

Registration materials are now loaded up on the cabrillobeachbathhouse.org website so by all means spread the word!

In addition to fabulous racing conditions (we'll make a wind sacrifice
a few days before), we'll have incredible hand crafted wood trophies from
Kevin Knight, the best fish tacos in town courtesy of Baja Fish and some
cool, live tunes from San Pedro's very own Trick Banana band.

Wow!!! Windsurf racing at Cabrillo... I think the last time that happened I saw Mike Gephardt and the Prichards sailing in diapers! Here's a cool thought, since most of us hackers at the Gulch are speed freaks, part of the festivities should be either a GPS or radar gun speed event. I did the Naish trials in Maui last year and it was a blast, even managed to blow off that kid Kai! With a good breeze we should be able to crank out 30+ in open water. Just a thought... Bull

[Note -- my wife is the person organizing this event, and though I am of course biased, a lot of kudos to her, as she's put a lot of time and energy into the foundation of what should be a terrific event. The windsurfing community -- shops, brands, individual sailors -- also has been very supportive and excited. This should be good!]

The event organizers were trying to run down a source for a radar gun to clock sailors during the race itself, just for fun. An inquiry to the LAPD -- imagine parking a motorcycle cop on a barge -- didn't work as their gear is somewhat specialized. If anyone has an idea on where to source (borrow) a radar gun, please pass the information on. Any Little League parents out there?

As for a speed contest in and of itself, at this point in time I think the organizers have their hands full with several classes of racing and different heats. But once this initial year is complete, it may be easier to incorporate in the future.

I'm guessing from your verbage, this is the inagural season? I'm considering driving down from San Fran and haven't any knowlege of the area other than sattelite maps. Do you have a list of affordable places to stay nearby? I'm no enemy of sleeping on dirt so a crummy hotel room would be the bees knees in my book.

Side note, was looking at the class delineations and am either going to run in Open or Novice. I'm fast and can jibe dry 80% of the time but never raced before, would I be considered a sandbagger if I enter a lower class?

I'm 90% committed to going now and was thinking about the GPS sailing thing. I may be able to bring down a laptop with software to use to analyze tracks post sailing for a side competition of sorts...say a pass the hat sort of deal. I'd guess the only thing else those interested would need is their own data cables. I'd need to get a usb-serial adaptor, but the rest should work fine. I'd probably use RealSpeed to analyze as it's automatic and everyone gets the same microscope.

The organizers have now secured a radar gun from the Port Police, so they should be able to get readings of sailors during each heat, though there is unlikely to be any full-on speed check.

In terms of lodging, there are many hotels and motels nearby; the organizers are trying to get a deal with the Cabrillo Marina DoubleTree Hotel, which is almost immediately adjacent to Cabrillo beach (and there is an entrance to the beach off the same road as the hotel is on). This link http://www.sanpedro.com/spcom/hotlodg.htm lists most of the nearby hotels and motels, and you could call the most local shops (Captain Kirks, Extremeline) for in person recommendations. (Long Beach Windsurfing, a sponsor like Captain Kirk's, may know of places in the Long Beach area, which is just over the bridge from San Pedro.)

As for the class one sails in, if you've never raced, you've never raced. That said, the most competitive class will be the open class, so if you are looking for bragging rights and the best prizes (and there are some good ones), register in that class

Good job jwajack! This sounds like something that will get the W/S world in touch with the fact that windsurfing is still alive in it's true ancestral home! After all, Hoyle Schweitzer and family sailed W/S #1 here and the original Windsurfer factory was located at the 405 Frwy and Western Ave, approx 6-7 miles from Cabrillo. The radar gun was a great score, but a number of us have the Navman or similar GPS units and it sounds like our friend from the Bay Area has some experience with downloading the GPS to his laptop, so maybe we can do an informal speed check. What do you think Jrobb? Bull

If the GPS device is able to download to computer, it should work with the software I'll have. It's a freeware version called Real Speed, produced by an Aussie speedsailor Mal Wright and can be found at www.intellimass.com It automatically eliminates spikes (faulty readings) from the tracks and does so identically for each track analyzed so everyone participating has their track edited exactly the same and eliminates user error or bias .

There is another program I use called GPSAR (GPS Action Replay) also free and is Java based and is much more GUI involved. It's more "showy" for seeing tracks in real time playback even superimposed on a Google map for example. It can also load up multiple competitor's tracks to replay back a race as if in instant replay and you see jibes, and head to head action as it occurred. If those of us competing have tracks from the races, I can compile them into a web hosted Applet that can be viewed later on. This part will take more time and wouldn't be finished till a week or so after the race. Speeds for the day of any length we desire can be finilized on the beach. Depending on how many competitors, roughly 10min per person for say 30-40 min worth of racing.

One issue of importance I forsee is possible compatibility issues between other GPS units and the comp I'm trying to bring. One is the Navman can't download data to computer so it's dosplay is all you can use. I haven't used it personally but the ability to remove faulty readings is preferable. A submerged unit can regain reception many yards away and show an erroneous speed on the display. I crashed after a jump one day and after finishing the run found I had gone 35kts. I was stoked but upon analyzing found the speed was the unit catching up to my current location. I had managed just over 30kts that day legitimately but had a faulty reading of 35. This is the risk with using display data only. it's fine if everyone uses the same units but with different units it can get ugly.

I'm using a Fortrex 201 and unless it dunks it's fairly reliable.

At any rate this should not get too complicated. I'm open to any suggestions. Here are some starters to set the units on the same playing field.

Set unit to recording so it records track data.
Set the interval to 2sec in stead of auto.
Set Wrapp when Full to Yes
Disable WAAS mode if unit has it for option.
If unit has option to save track data for later use select No. If selected Yes the data gets truncated and can return faulty results.

I'm no expert but have been downloading sessions for a while now as a side hobby of my sailing. I can answer any questions or find answers or refer you to the guys with all the answers.

The Doubletree Hotel in San Pedro, just next door to Cabrillo Beach, is offering Racers a $30 discount on room rates for a limited time only. The Doubletree is in a great location situated next to the Cabrillo Marina and the nothern entrance to the beach (off of 22nd Street/Via Cabrillo Marina). Please call 310-514-3344 and identify yourself as a participant in the Windsurf Enduro Event to make a reservation.

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